Ken Doane/Kenny Dykstra and Harry Smith spring to mind. Particularly annoyed about the latter, with a mouthpiece manager he had everything going for him, and they wasted him and broke up the new hart foundation for no reason!

RVD as well, man the guy was crazy over, especially in the invasion storyline... why it took him til 2006 to win the belt I will never know, and he lost it because of Pot? I mean really?

Booker T in WWE as well, there was such a void there after Rock and Stone Cold left, again he was crazy over, they had the chance to put the belt on him at wrestlemania x9 and run with him, but yet again they blew it by having triple h hold the belt for forever, when he just didn't need it to get over...

Shelton Benjamin was a great in ring worker, but nothing in him screamed main-event. He had no persona, No character. Guy was an athlete. Only so far you can go on that.

It's all on creative to give him a character and persona. He had a good look, he was over, he was great in the ring, and he was charismatic. They could easily have given him a character and he would have done well. Austin was The Ringmaster and he was Stone Cold, if that doesn't show you that creative means everything, I don't know what does.

th sad truith that al of u cant ceem to grrasp is dat wrestlig is getig les poplar each day and no bodde caires abot it

vinse is senile at this poiint and th growth of tna has pleateuaed nd roh has nevr bin mor than his a crapy cult

I'm not sure if the OP is asking about guys who didn't make it to the main event or guys who never got a chance to shine at all. If he's talking about the latter then I disagree with the Benjamin, Carlito, MVP and Morrison references. All of those guys had respectable and successful careers below the main event level. Not every one was built or chosen to be a headliner just because they were talented in the ring, on the microphone or had a memorable character. There are legends in this business who never held a World Title and based on the careers they had whether in quality matches, engaging promos, and memorable moments I would say they "made it."

A guy like Paul Burchill is a good example because the guy was extremely talented in the ring and he was trying his best to make something out of that pirate gimmick they gave him a few years back. Of course he even had a little stint as the generic, smug English heel as well. I agree they could have put more effort creatively in how they booked him because I'm sure with better writing he probably could have 'grabbed the brass ring' so to speak.

Wrestlers like Taz(z) and Raven were not booked properly at all either. The aura for those two characters had when Paul Heyman booked them in ECW was dead real quick in the Federation.

It's all on creative to give him a character and persona. He had a good look, he was over, he was great in the ring, and he was charismatic. They could easily have given him a character and he would have done well. Austin was The Ringmaster and he was Stone Cold, if that doesn't show you that creative means everything, I don't know what does.

Again, That's an if. The only time I've seen some personality or character from him was this: